Heart disease is the #1 killer in the U.S. Approximately 1 million Americans experience a heart attack each year; nearly 500,000 die. But something can be done! Because heart disease is a lifestyle illness with modifiable risk factors, there is something that we can do to prevent this disease. For decades the association between cholesterol and heart disease has been known. Total cholesterol levels above 200mg/dl are associated with an increased risk of heart disease. Ideally, the total cholesterol levels should be below 170 and LDL (bad cholesterol) levels should be below 100 mg/dl. Ideally, the healthy cholesterol, HDL, should be above 60 mg/dl. This month we will look at cholesterol as a risk factor for heart disease. You have probably seen or heard advertisements about medications to reduce cholesterol, particularly the statin drugs. But what you may not know is that there are major side-effects with those medications. On the British Medical Journal Website, it states that statin drug use is associated with a higher risk of liver damage, myopathy (muscle disease), kidney failure and cataracts. So while using statins may reduce your risk for heart attack, you may create other problems. Is there a better way? Of course there is! God’s way is always best. Over the next three weeks, we will look at some aspects of that best way.